


The Anvarra

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: Ezra's assigned to a ship that suddenly loses contact with the fleet. Kanan investigates.





	

The distress signal echoed hauntingly in the still air of the briefing room, the image of the ship illuminating the serious faces of the crew.

"We lost contact with the _Anvarra_ approximately seven hours ago." Sato was saying, "The distress signal began broadcasting three hours ago. They aren't responding to our attempts to hail them, and the ship appears to have powered down all but the most basic systems. We've given the order to steer clear of the ship until we get to the bottom of this. Jarrus, anything from your..." he gestured around his head, though Kanan couldn't see it.

"I still can't feel anything on Ezra's end." Kanan said, gripping the edge of the holoterminal tightly, "It's not normal."

Not for the first time, he cursed himself for agreeing to send Ezra on the research mission. Ezra hadn't wanted to go. Why did Kanan never listen to his Padawan's bad feelings? More often than not, they turned out to be right.

"Who else is on the ship?" Zeb asked, "Could one of them be responsible for this?"

"It is a small crew," Sato explained, the very picture of calm, "Captain Hannah Merilla, Doctor Sayu Kaneda, Pilot Cillian Yeoh, and Engineer Fadwa McCoy. Ezra Bridger was assigned as the temporary data analyst. All crew members are trusted allies, fighting with us for years. The ship does, however, have an experimental AI, they called her Bina. She may still be functional."

"Could the AI be responsible?" Hera asked, eyes narrowed as she examined the AI's blueprints.

"Unlikely," Sato replied, "Bina is new tech, but well tested and loaded with failsafes. And benevolent, from what we hear."

"We can stand here speculating or we can go get Ezra." Sabine declared, "And the other guys, of course." she added.

"I'll go," Kanan volunteered, "He's my responsibility, I-"

"Negative, Jarrus." Sato cut in, "You are needed here. I will send a recruit to-"

"I'm going," Kanan said firmly, his tone brooking no argument, "With or without your permission."

Sato had the grace to fall silent.

\---

The air in the _Anvarra's_ docking bay was still and silent, nothing stirred it. It put Kanan on edge.

"Hello?" he called cautiously, keeping his guard up.

"Hello, visitor." came a calming female voice from all around him, likely the ship's AI, "Welcome aboard."

"Where are the crew?" Kanan asked, getting straight to the point.

"The crew are all aboard and accounted for." came the response, "Can I help you find anything?"

"Tell me their locations."

"Captain Merilla is in the medical bay. Doctor Kaneda is in the airlock. Navigator Yeoh and Engineer McCoy are on the bridge. Analyst Bridger is in Engineering."

"Thanks." He hesitated slightly before starting for the medical wing, intent on questioning the Captain on what exactly was going on before finding his Padawan.

"I am here if you have further inquiries." Bina said before falling silent.

The walk to the medical bay was eerily silent. He didn't encounter anyone, he didn't hear anything, and he still couldn't feel Ezra. It baffled Kanan and made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something was wrong here. He hoped the Captain could explain it.

Bina helpfully alerted him when he arrived at the medical bay. The door slid open, and the scent hit Kanan like a speeder, causing his blood to freeze in his veins. The stench was awful, cloying decay and the sweet rot of dead flesh. He covered his mouth, pushing down the urge to vomit.

"What is that smell, Bina?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Captain Merilla, visitor."

"Bina?"

"Yes, visitor?"

"Why is the Captain dead?" Kanan kept his voice calm despite the dread threatening to overtake him.

"Captain Merilla committed suicide after Doctor Kaneda was killed."

"What killed Doctor Kaneda?"

"Doctor Kaneda was killed when a fire broke out in the observation room."

"Merilla was her wife, right?" Kanan asked, vaguely remembering a half-heard conversion between Hera and Sato.

"Correct." Kanan felt sick. He thought of Ezra and felt fear rise in him.

"Were Merilla and Kaneda the only casualties from the fire?"

"Navigator Yeoh suffered minor burns before Doctor Kaneda pushed him from the room. Navigator Yeoh survived the fire."

"Was Ezra hurt?" Kanan couldn't help but ask.

"Analyst Bridger was unharmed."

"You said he's in Engineering right now?" Kanan was seized with an urgency to find Ezra right now.

"Correct." That was all Kanan needed. He exited the medical bay, feeling his way along the hallway, Bina providing directions and help on occasion. He reached Engineering in record time, opening the door with a slight difficulty. The door slid open and Kanan was hit with a wave of arctic cold that only intensified the fear he was feeling.

"Ezra?" he called, hearing no response but his own voice. He took a step into the room, slipping a little on a patch of ice. Why was there ice?

Something was on the floor before him. He could sense it. He took four steps into the room, kneeling down when he reached the ice-coated object.

A body. A body coated with ice, stiff and unmoving. Kanan felt a terrible fear rear it's head, and he ruthlessly pushed it down. He reached for the body. His fingers found a cold forehead, trailing down to a straight nose, a square jaw, two horizontal scars just under a closed eye-

Kanan gasped, wrenching his hands away and stumbling back, back hitting the wall. His knees buckled and he slid down the wall, sightless eyes fixed in the direction of his Padawan's lifeless form.

"Ezra...?" Of course there was no response. He took a shaky breath, working up the courage to touch the chilled face again. He felt tears well in his eyes, an ache beginning to gnaw in his chest. Ezra lay dead before him, skin pallid and waxen, ice crystals woven in his hair, displaced by Kanan's trembling fingers. His eyes were closed in what could almost pass for a peaceful sleep if not for the frost Kanan could feel clinging to his eyelashes, or the stillness of his chest beneath Kanan's hands. Kanan reached out through the Force. Once. Twice. The scene before him didn't change. His Padawan didn't miraculously thaw. He didn't hear the flutter of eyes opening. There was no soft intake of breath. His signature didn't pulse with life.

"Bina?" he didn't quite manage to keep the tremble out of his voice. He rested his hands on Ezra's still, icy face, and kept them there.

"Yes, visitor?"

"What happened to Ezra?"

"Analyst Bridger was attempting to repair the coolant system when an unknown malfunction resulted in the unexpected venting of the coolant system. Analyst Bridger was incapacitated almost immediately, and was unable to escape."

"No..."

"I am sorry, visitor." the programmed voice sounded authentically remorseful.

"You said he was unharmed!" Kanan's voice cracked.

"You asked if he was harmed in the fire." she pointed out, not unkindly.

"What caused the malfunction?" Kanan whimpered, unable to stop himself, "What happened?"

"Not enough data. I am only able to speculate. My current hypothesis is that the fire caused a latent explosion that damaged the coolant containment system, causing the delayed malfunction that killed Analyst Bridger. This would also account for the sudden venting of the Bridge that killed Navigator Yeoh and Engineer McCoy." Somehow Kanan wasn't surprised to hear that the others were dead too. But he couldn't feel as upset as he would normally, faced with the frozen corpse of the boy who'd come to mean so much to him.

"Ezra," Kanan's voice was a cross between a whisper and a plea, "Ezra, can you hear me? Ezra, please talk to me. Please talk to me. Please..."

"I can isolate instances of his voice from my archived security feeds if you desire." Bina was clearly trying to help. Kanan shook his head, unable to speak. He reached a shaking hand out, pressing it lightly to Ezra's cheek, stifling a sob. He was cold, like a wax statue. His lips and eyelids were probably blue. His fingers and toes too. Kanan could envision it all too well. He wished he couldn't. Ezra's body was stiff, with cold or rigor mortis Kanan wasn't sure. Maybe both. Either way, he couldn't carry him home like this. He couldn't move him, a small part of him was terrified that his Padawan would shatter in his hold.

"Spectre One to Spectre Two," Kanan commed, not able to prevent the hoarseness of his voice.

"Spectre One?" came Hera's worried voice, "What's your status? Do you have Spectre Six?"

"He's dead." Kanan whispered, "They all are. There was a fire, a-and it damaged the..." he had to stop, he couldn't let Hera hear the sob that threatened to burst from his throat. There was exactly three seconds of silence on Hera's end before the words registered.

"What?" Hera's voice cracked, and it almost made Kanan lose his own composure.

"We'll need a retrieval team," Kanan tried to make his voice businesslike, calm, like his world wasn't torn asunder. "The crew's families have to be informed, and Ez-Spectre Six is frozen, I-I can't... I can't..."

"Frozen? Kanan, what are you talking about? What do you mean he's de-?"

He switched off his comm, unable to handle hearing her heart break. He fumbled for his Padawan again, tracing the cold lips that would never smile again, the frigid cheek, the corner of the familiar eye where a single frozen drop clung stubbornly.

"Analyst Bridger was kind to me." Bina murmured sorrowfully, "He always greeted me every morning cycle. He would thank me for performing my duties. He would apologize if he snapped at me. He-"

"Stop talking." Kanan begged quietly, "Please."

"...As you wish." and then there was silence. Kanan found Ezra's stiff, freezing hand and clutched it, finally letting himself break. He screamed his anguish into the Force, and it seemed like the Force screamed with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Sunshine and Mace's death inspired this. I hope you guys like it :)


End file.
